Bryson City Secrets: Even More Tales of a Small-Town Doctor in the Smoky Mountains

by Walt Larimore, MD

  I followed the ambulance up the narrow dirt road into a small mountain hollow. It was a typical winter day in the Smok-ies — gray, overcast, damp, dreary, and cold. Most who visit the Smokies in the spring and fall revel in its temperate and lush glory. But most aren’t aware of how stiflingly hot and steamy the summers can be — and virtually none know how dismal a Smoky Mountain winter can be. This day would prove to be far more dismal than most.

  As we reached the end of the road, I saw several sheriff vehicles in a small field in front of a diminutive white farmhouse surrounded with bright yellow crime scene tape. After parking and hopping out of the cab, Billy walked over and extended his hand. “Howdy, Doc.”

  “Greetings, Billy.”

  As Don walked up from behind the ambulance I nodded at him. “It’s a mess in thar, Doc,” Don explained.

  “What happened?”

  “On first look, it seems the woman stabbed her husband. She used a big ole butcher knife. Pretty much got him straight in the heart, at least judgin’ from all the blood on his chest and the floor. Then she turned the knife on herself.”

  “Cut her wrists?” I asked, assuming a common method of suicide.

  “Nope,” Billy responded. “First she cut her arm a couple of times, and then she tried to stab herself in the chest a couple a times. When we got here, she was out like a light. Don’t know if she fainted or was in shock. But her vitals were good. We got her stabilized and then transferred her up to the hospital.”

  We began to walk to the house. “Was she awake?”

  “Not at first,” Don explained. “I got the bleeding stopped with compression dressings. Her heart and lungs seemed fine, so I think her chest wounds are superficial. I got an IV started, and then we put her in the unit, and Billy aimed our nose toward the hospital. Once we were underway, I used some smelling salts on her, and she woke up real quick like.”

  “Were you able to talk to her?”

  “Nope. She was hysterical — absolutely hysterical. Seemed real scared and tried to fight me. I had to restrain her for the entire trip to the hospital. Then when we got there, Dr. Pyeritz had to give her a real strong IV sedative to calm her down. When we left the ER, she was deep asleep, and he was sewin’ her up.”

  “Just doesn’t make sense to me,” I commented.

  “What doesn’t?” asked Billy, as we ducked under the crime scene tape.

  “Folks usually don’t stab their chest to commit suicide. Did she leave a note?”

  “Don’t know, Doc. We just stabilized her and transported her as soon as we could.”

  We walked up the steps to the porch as the sheriff walked out the front door to greet me. “It’s a strange one, Doc,” he said as we shook hands. “The neighbor man told one of our deputies that this here family had the ideal marriage. Good churchgoin’ folks. Never a cross word, at least publicly. But you never know what goes on behind closed doors, do you?”

  “What’ve you put together so far, Sheriff?”

  “Apparently the woman was gettin’ dinner ready. Her husband came in the back door, and they musta had a bit of a scuffle. There’s some broke plates on the floor, and the kitchen table was pushed over a bit. Anyway, she got him in the chest with a big knife she was usin’ to cut vegetables. Looks like he died on the spot. Then she tried to stab herself. Had cuts on her forearm and her chest. Her left hand was all bloody. The butcher knife was by her side, even though she was fainted out on the floor. That’s where we found her — still out cold.”

  “How’d you all get notified?”

  “We think she musta’ called 911 before she fainted.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Millie down at dispatch said a call came in, but there was no voice on the other end of the line. Then she heard a muffled sound, and the phone went dead. There’s some bloody finger marks on the phone. The phone was hangin’ off the counter right beside her.”

  “This does sound like a strange one!” I remarked to no one in particular.

  “Yep, it shore ’nuff is,” the sheriff answered. “We’ve got the state crime scene van on the way from Asheville.”

  “Sounds good. Let’s go take a look.”

  As I walked through the small dining room, I could see the kitchen table. It looked like it had been set for dinner, except that the glasses and silverware were haphazardly strewn across its surface.

  I entered the kitchen, and I could see a middle-aged man sitting in a slumped position against the cabinet below and to the right of the sink. Two deputies walked in from the back porch as I set down my crime scene bag and pulled out a pair of disposable latex gloves. My eyes slowly swept across the scene, gathering whatever facts the site was willing to tell me.

  The man had a huge bloodstain on the center of his muscle shirt, and a pool of coagulated blood was on the floor beside him. The blood loss explained why his face was pale and not the cyanotic blue usually seen in a fresh corpse. There was a cut in the shirt that was two or three inches long — oriented diagonally from his left shoulder toward the lower part of the chest bone. A large amount of blood had flowed down his shirt and soaked the left side of his denim jeans before pooling on the floor at his left side. I suspected the pathologist would find a punctured lung and heart — as well as a chest cavity full of blood.

  I walked over to the body and squatted down. I felt along his right wrist. The radial artery had, as I expected, no pulse. I noticed several lacerations on the top of his left forearm. “Looks like he tried to defend himself. See the cuts here on his arm?”

  The sheriff and deputies nodded.

  I raised the left arm and found it to be fairly supple. “No rigor mortis yet.”

  My eyes were then drawn to the man’s left shoulder, where I saw what appeared to be two cuts or puncture wounds — filled with coagulated blood. I looked behind the shoulder and saw that the wounds had bled down the back of his shirt, which explained the streaked bloodstain on the cabinet just above him. “He’d been stabbed up here before he collapsed,” I commented, mostly to myself.

  I looked to my left and saw more bloodstains and streaks on the floor by the sink. “That where you found her?” I asked.

  “Yep,” Billy answered. “We figure she intended to cut her wrists and then panicked and stabbed herself in the heart. When that didn’t work, she called 911, got Millie, and then fainted. We found her right there — just below the phone.”

  I could see the phone receiver hanging from its cord, dangling about halfway down the cabinet. The phone base was on the kitchen cabinet.

  “We unplugged the phone from the wall, Doc,” Deputy Rogers explained. “It was making an awful racket.”

  I nodded and looked carefully at the receiver. I could see a faint bloody thumbprint on the inside. I peered around the other side to see three faint and slightly smeared fingerprints on the top.

  “Look here, Sheriff.”

  “Whatcha see, Doc?”

  “It looks like someone tried to wipe the blood off this phone, doesn’t it?”

  The sheriff walked over and stooped down to look at the receiver. “You know, Doc, I think you’re right.”

  I was getting more confused by the minute. I stood and backed up just to observe the entire scene at once. My intuition was telling me things were not exactly as they appeared. I had learned that crime scenes could speak to you — but you had to learn to look very carefully, and listen even more carefully to the soft whispers of the scene itself. My instincts were telling me that this crime scene was trying to scream a message to me. But what? What was it?

  chapter two

  THE SCENE SPEAKS

  My mind was churning. What was missing? What didn’t fit? Then I had an idea. “Sheriff.”

  “Yes, Doctor?”

  “Who talked to the neighbor?”

  “I did,” replied Deputy Odom.

  “What do you know about him, Jim?”

  “He lives in that small house down the road. Said he works up here
as a farmhand and handyman. Said he did chores all day today and then left the farm to go home and make himself dinner. Said when he left that the owner was still in the barn and he saw the wife in the kitchen makin’ dinner. He says that’s the last he saw of them.”

  My suspicions were rising rapidly. “Jim,” I asked the deputy, “is he a little man or a big man?”

  “Doc, he’s huge. Bet he’s six foot four, probably weighs two-fifty or -sixty.”

  I turned to the EMTs. “Tell me more about the woman.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Don.

  “Size, shape, features.”

  “A tiny little woman. I’d say she’s five foot one or two, maybe a hundred and ten pounds.”

  “Yeah,” added Billy, smiling. “She’s a tiny little thing. Otherwise Don here wouldn’t have been able to have restrained her in the back of the ambulance.”

  Don sneered at the slight from his partner. “That ain’t funny, Billy.”

  I broke in. “Don, you said she had blood on her left hand, correct?”

  “That’s right.”

  “None on her right hand?”

  “None that I saw.”

  “And she had the knife in her left hand?”

  “Well, at least we found it at her left side.”

  “Tell me again where exactly she had cut herself.”

  Don thought for a second. “Left forearm and left side of the chest.”

  “Don,” I asked, “how could she hold the knife in her left hand and cut her left forearm?”

  Don pondered the question and then nodded to himself as he commented, “Don’t seem possible, does it?”

  I turned to the deputies at the back door. “How far down the road does the handyman live?”

  “Not a hundred yards, Doc. Real close.”

  My mind was racing. I had an idea — a theory — and it could explain everything I saw. I just needed to confirm a couple of facts.

  “Sheriff, how ’bout Deputies Rogers and Odom go fetch the neighbor and see if he’d be willing to come up here? I’d like to ask him a few questions, if he’s willing.”

  The sheriff looked at the deputies. “OK, boys. Go on and pick him up.”

  “Be glad to, boss,” Jim replied. He and Deputy Rogers turned to leave. As they walked out the door, the sheriff called out after them. “Jimmy, be sure to read him his rights, ya hear?”

  “Yes sir!” The deputies left.

  In the North Carolina forensic system of the early 1980s, local law enforcement officers were tasked in felony cases to secure the scene and protect the evidence until both the crime scene investigators and I had done our evaluations. I generally began the crime scene observation while waiting for the CSI folks to collect and forensically evaluate the evidence.

  I was sure all was not as it appeared. I was considering and reconsidering my theory when the sheriff interrupted my thoughts. “You feelin’ weak, Doc?”

  I furrowed my brow and looked at him. “Sheriff, what in the dickens are you talking about?”

  Then I heard Billy and Don snickering.

  “Well,” the sheriff began, “I still remember your first coroner’s case up on School House Hill. I thought sure you was either gonna’ faint or puke.”

  Billy and Don broke out in laughter. I felt my face burning as I recalled my first homicide crime scene four years earlier. Then I joined their laughter.

  “Well,” I responded, “I think you’re wrong.”

  “How so?” asked the sheriff.

  “I wasn’t about to faint or throw up — I was about to do both!”

  The men joined in hearty laughter.

  “You’ve come a long way, Doc!” the sheriff said, slapping me on the back. “A long way.”

  “Is there another phone in the house I can use?” I asked.

  “Yep, there’s one in the front room.”

  “Can we take the body to the morgue, Doc?” Billy asked.

  “Nope. I want the body here when the CSI unit gets here. Sorry to delay you boys, but I don’t think this is a domestic murder and attempted suicide.”

  “You don’t?” exclaimed the sheriff.

  “Nope. I think it’s one murder and one attempted murder.”

  I shook my head and walked through the dining room and into the front room of the farmhouse. I looked around the room. There were family pictures everywhere. A family Bible was sitting on the coffee table, along with several devotional books. I walked over to the phone, sat down, and dialed the number of our ER.

  Louise Thomas, the ER nurse, answered the phone.

  “Louise, this is Dr. Larimore. Is Dr. Pyeritz still there?”

  “Yes, sir. He’s sewin’ up that woman who tried to commit suicide.”

  “Is she still sedated?”

  “No, sir. She’s woken up and seems calm now. She claims she can’t remember a thing about this evening. She can’t even remember anything that happened today.”

  “Does she know about her husband?”

  Louise lowered her voice to a whisper. “No, sir. Dr. Pyeritz hasn’t told her. He wanted to finish puttin’ her back together and then talk to you.”

  “Louise, are her arm wounds on the top of her forearm or on the underside?”

  “Why, they’re on the top of her left forearm,” Louise explained.

  “Are they near the wrist or more near the elbow?”

  “I’d say they’re purty near in between — and deep. Some of them are into the muscle, Dr. Larimore.”

  “Louise, her chest wounds — which side of the chest are they on?”

  “Dr. Larimore, you sure are askin’ a lot of questions.”

  “I know, Louise. But this is important. Are the wounds on the left or right side of her chest?”

  “The left side.”

  I was confused for just a moment. Her answer didn’t fit my theory. Then I had an idea. “Louise, are the chest wounds on her left or your left as you face her.”

  “Oh, sorry, Dr. Larimore. They’re on her left — over her heart.”

  That fit! “OK, Louise, one last question. Do you know if she’s left- or right-handed?”

  “Well, Dr. Pyeritz just got me to have her sign a consent for treatment, but it ain’t legal ’cause she done been sedated. I told Dr. Pyeritz that when a patient’s been sedated, they can’t go signin’ no consent, but like most of you young doctors, he didn’t listen to me — ”

  “Louise!” I broke in to her diatribe. “Which hand did she sign the consent form with?”

  “Well, actually, Dr. Larimore, she didn’t sign it. She made a mark.”

  “She can’t write?”

  “She said she can’t.”

  “OK, Louise. So which hand did she use to make her mark?”

  “Her left one, Dr. Larimore. And now Dr. Pyeritz is finishin’ up sewin’ on her left arm. He did her chest wounds first. Fortunately, they were superficial — not very deep at all. Guess it hurt too bad for her to finish the job.”

  “Louise, you may have just solved our case for us. Tell Dr. Pyeritz that she did not kill her husband and that she did not try to commit suicide. They were both attacked. I’m sure of it.”

  I hung up and turned to see Don, Billy, and the sheriff staring at me in bewilderment.

  “What’s going on, Doc?” the sheriff asked.

  Before I could answer, we heard the sound of a car pulling up in front of the house. Through the window, I could see it was the deputies. I quickly walked outside, with three befuddled county employees following me.

  In the backseat of the squad car was a very large man. Jim jumped out of the front passenger seat and opened the door for the man, who slowly unfolded his massive frame from the cramped seat. I did not recall having seen him before. He had on clean overalls, and his hair was moist. I suspected he had just showered. I held out my right hand; he extended his, and we shook hands.

  “I’m Dr. Larimore. I’m the medical examiner for this case.”

  “Good to meet
you, but I don’t know nuthin’ about what happened here. I done told the deputies all I know.”

  I looked at his eyes. They were nervous and darting from me to the deputies. I sensed he was either very nervous or lying.

  “Will you hold your hands out?”

  His eyes narrowed, and he looked at me apprehensively. “What for?”

  “Just want to look.”

  He slowly lifted his hands, palms up. I leaned forward and smelled his hands. The aroma of soap was still strong.

  “Just wash up?”

  “Yep. I always shower up after a hard day’s work. I work for what I earn, Doc.”

  “Can you turn your hands over?” I asked.

  He complied, and I saw exactly what I expected. The fingernails on the right hand had dark material under the nails — but the fingernails on the left hand appeared much cleaner. I turned to Jim. “Has he been read his rights?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I turned back to the man I now was fairly certain was the murderer. “I only have two questions for you, sir.”

  He nodded.

  “First of all, are you left- or right-handed?”

  He narrowed his eyes, and I thought I saw a flash of anger. “Right-handed. Why you wanna know?”

  I felt anger welling up in my soul. I didn’t know why he had done what he had done, but I suspected the motive had something to do with money, sex, or drugs. I took a deep breath and looked directly into his eyes.

  “Here’s my last question for you. Did you kill that man in there?”

  His eyes widened slightly as he muttered an unsure “Uhh — ” His eyes quickly darted to the right and then down at his feet. “Did I kill that man and woman?” He paused for a few seconds, and I noticed him gently shake his head as he responded in a staccato tone. “No sir, absolutely not! Not no way!”

  As the handyman continued his story, I listened not only to his words but to his nonverbal communication as well. Over the years I’d observed that the average person who is lying usually gives it away with almost indiscernible signs — like repeating the question you ask him — in an effort to buy some time to make up his answer. Liars are also more likely to blink their eyes and to shift their body posture more frequently, as well as to stumble over their words or speak with a voice higher in pitch and faster in cadence.